Reset
by Caitriona3
Summary: Five years ago the last Jaeger sealed the Breach to prevent any further kaiju attacks. Humanity moved on. Did the kaiju? One woman doesn't think so and tries to sound a warning, but nobody hears her. Nobody wants to hear her. Felicity Smoak finds herself fighting an uphill battle to s (Eventually an Olicity story. This is my first ever venture into two BRAND NEW - to me - fandoms.)
1. Felicity's Story

_KAIJU (__怪獣__kaijū, Japanese) Giant Beast._

_JAEGER (ya'gar, German) Hunter._

_My name is Felicity Smoak…_

I loved monster movies when I was a kid – especially the old black and white classics. I'm not talking the Dracula or Frankenstein type things, but the real all-out Godzilla on a rampage type movies. For some reason watching those giant lizards tear through cardboard cities used to make me laugh. My mother never understood the draw, but she would gamely take me to see them when a theater had a flashback weekend. I would tell her stories about how I wanted to be the scientist who figured out how to beat the monster. She would laugh and remind me that monsters like that didn't exist, but she hoped I would still become a scientist. I would lay in bed that night staring out my window at the stars and wish I could see a real monster, just once…but then I would roll over and go to sleep, comfortable in the knowledge that monsters weren't real.

Then my wish came true…and everything changed.

I was eight years old when the first kaiju made landfall in San Francisco on August 11, 2023. I remember watching the big screens in the casino as it showed the monster destroying building after building, monument after monument, city after city. It was the first time I'd snuck onto the game floor and not gotten scolded. My mother, a cocktail waitress there, just collapsed into an empty chair and pulled me onto her lap. Tears etched their way down her cheeks. That frightened me more than the monster on the screen. To me it had been just another monster movie, but when I saw my mother crying, I realized something was very, very wrong.

Only much later did I come to understand that tens of thousands of lives were being lost as we watched.

The kaiju continued to come, one at a time, through the Breach. At first there were months between appearances and cities were being decimated – if not by the kaiju themselves, then by the only force humanity possessed that seemed capable of taking them down. Regular weapons didn't work – jets, tanks, nothing. Only tactical nuclear missiles seemed to do the trick. It was like killing the patient to cure the disease. There had to be a better way. Governments all over the world began to put aside old rivalries and shelve current disputes to try and figure out a different solution.

Thus evolved the Jaeger Project.

Humanity came together in an unprecedented fashion to deal with the kaiju and their threat to all life. The best minds from engineering, robotics, and the military united to create a force capable of fighting the kaiju. Giant mobile robots commanded by Rangers were built – each robot becoming an extension of their pilot's body thanks to the neural interface. The Jaegers could go toe-to-toe with the kaiju, standing up to them in a way conventional weaponry could not. There were set backs of course – there always is with new technology. The sheer power of the neural interface overloaded the first test pilot. It was discovered that two pilots could bear the load together, but it required them to be compatible to an unusual degree. They would need to be locked into a bond that came to be known as a neural handshake. That level of trust would not be easy as it required the sharing of one's mind with another person, or 'Drifting'. Pairs able to reach this level were called 'Drift-compatible'. Partners would share a Headspace no one other than another pair could comprehend. There were even reports of 'Ghost Drifting' – when the link between partners would remain active, though muted, after being disconnected from the machine. This is how tight the bond between partners could be. It deepened the trust between them even as it compounded the potential for psychological trauma should one of the partners die.

Most Rangers don't survive if their partner is lost during battle – the overload from suddenly piloting solo combined with the traumatic psychic backlash overwhelms them.

I was nine when the first Jaegers began to take back the seacoasts of the Pacific in 2024. Growing up in Las Vegas kept me isolated somewhat from the ongoing war with the kaiju as they continued to come through the Breach. I would watch every news report and read anything I could get my hands on. I actually built up an extensive set of files on the Jaegers, their pilots, and the kaiju they defeated. That was as close as I got. Then, when I was thirteen, a group of Jaeger Rangers came to the casino while on Las Vegas for leave. They were like rock stars. Everyone wanted to see them, to talk to them. I recognized them of course – like I mentioned, I had **files**. Still I think almost anyone would have recognized these guys – the Rangers were the new media elite. Brothers Yancy and Raleigh Becket, childhood friends Oliver Queen and Sara Lance, plus a handful of others. Most of them were technically too young to be in the casino proper, but who was going to say no to **them**? I didn't bother them, mostly tried to watch them surreptitiously whenever I could slip past security…which wasn't all that often by then. It's hard being halfway between a cute kid and a grown-up. I did get to meet Sara Lance though and promptly managed to make a bit of a fool of myself when I stumbled over my words. She laughed, but not in a mean fashion, and told me I was 'cute'. Looking back, I'm pretty sure it was 'cute in a naïve little girl' sort of a way, but she was friendly and even showed me a new way to sneak around the casino. I liked her.

Two years later, the kaiju evolved.

Or at the very least they figured out the truth behind the Jaegers. On February 29, 2030, Yancy and Raleigh Becket stepped into the Conn-Pod of their Mark III Jaeger Gipsy Danger to face off against the kaiju labeled AK-20, colloquially known as 'Knifehead'. During the subsequent fight, Yancy Becket was killed in action, leaving his brother Raleigh to finish the battle on his own – Raleigh Becket defeated the kaiju despite the overload and trauma he suffered during the battle and at his brother's death. It was determined that Leatherback somehow knew the Rangers were there. It knew before it actually saw them…and that meant the kaiju knew. The conclusion gained even more evidence a year later when another kaiju fought Green Arrow, killing Sara Lance. As with Raleigh Becket and Gipsy Danger, Oliver Queen managed to continue piloting his half-shattered Jaeger long enough to defeat the kaiju. Both men left Ranger service – scarred in every way, physically and psychically. The war turned – Jaeger losses began to stack up and the world leaders decided they no longer provided adequate protection for their cost – not enough 'band for the buck'.

Then in April 2030 came the trifold plan to sunset the Jaegers.

Great walled fortifications would be built along every coastline along the Pacific Ocean while citizens would be evacuated and relocated further inland. At the same time there would be undersea barriers built in the South Pacific to prevent the kaiju from moving into either the Atlantic or Indian Oceans. Humanity ceded the Pacific Ocean to the kaiju invaders and chose to build their walls. The wall designers promised everyone that the fortifications would be 'unbreachable'.

History alone should have told everyone that such a promise was hard to keep.

I graduated high school a year later at sixteen and went directly into college. Although I had always been fascinated by computers and technology something prompted me to choose a different line of study. I chose to study the Breach itself – physics, tectonics, anything that might relate to the Breach and how it worked. Not that I gave up technology – it just became more of a support to my main tract. My mother thought I was choosing a dead end line of study. She continued to hold faith in the walls and thought I'd never get the chance to pursue anything more than shadows and unprovable theories. I, with all my teenage hubris, huffed at her and said I had more faith in science and technology than any wall ever built. We fought about it and I moved out completely at age eighteen, transferring to M.I.T. to finish my bachelor's degree at nineteen. Thanks to a lot of luck with mentors and financial aid, I decided to remain at M.I.T. and continue my education. Most of my teachers and fellow classmates tended to shake their heads at me, but a handful agreed it was stupid to think we could just ignore the kaiju and trust them to stay trapped like overgrown fish in the fishbowl of the Pacific. We were proven right on December 27, 2034 when the kaiju known as Mutavore broke through the wall at Sydney, Australia.

The barriers proved to be nothing more than a child's blanket – something we pulled over our heads to convince ourselves we were safe from the monsters lurking in the dark.

The Jaegers were called back into action – what few remained. The Mark IV's Crimson Typhoon from China and Cherno Alpha from Russia along with the first ever Mark V Striker Eureka from Australia were all in Hong Kong, readying for decommission and becoming part of a museum to humanity's effort to defeat the kaiju. Another 'relic' had been restored and upgraded – the Mark III, Gipsy Danger. No one outside of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps knew why it was allowed to be upgraded before becoming a museum piece, but everyone was thankful for the unexpected foresight of the PPDC. In an unprecedented double attack on the city of Hong Kong, all four Jaegers once again fought for the survival of humanity. Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha were both lost in battle against Otachi and Leatherback while Striker Eureka was rendered temporarily inoperative by an electro-magnetic pulse let off by Leatherback. The unexpected EMP rendered all digital systems inoperative, even affecting the Hong Kong Shatterdome. Gipsy Danger then entered the battlefield. Once considered a relic, the old Mark III had not suffered from the EMP since she wasn't digital – she was analog, nuclear. Piloted by the recommissioned Raleigh Becket and newly commissioned Mako Mori, Gipsy Danger took down both kaiju and walked away from the battle – scorched and battered, but not out.

Four days later, on January 12, 2035, Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka did more than any other Jaeger ever created to prove the worth of the Jaeger project – they sealed the Breach itself.

I found myself at twenty years old feeling torn about the Breach being sealed. On the one hand, I was ecstatic. No more kaiju, no more death and destruction due to these monstrous sized beings from another dimension out to claim the earth for their own. On the other hand, I faced yet more derision and exasperation at my chosen field of science. Several of my mentors, formerly quite supportive, tried to redirect me to other fields. I remained stubbornly defiant, continuing my research into the Breach and any field I felt related – such as seismology and volcanology. I received my Master's degree at twenty-two. In my chosen fields, however, I would need a doctorate to be taken seriously, so I remained at school. As part of my education I began to compare various energy readings at all points of the Pacific Rim, everything and anything released by the movement of the various tectonic plates. I still kept up with the various news reports of the former Rangers, but they grew more sporadic as the threat began to recede. While still considered heroes, they were allowed to fade into the background as each anniversary passed. Life moved on, along with most of the people in my field of study. Although Jaegers were still being built, they had different functions now and the people who drove them would never have made the cut as Rangers. Everyone began to settle back into a pre-kaiju sense of superiority. Hints of old rivalries and jealousies began to raise their heads once more.

In the spring of 2040, everything changed…again.

…_and I'm the one who told the world to reset the clock._


	2. Felicity's Crew

_Author's Note: No PR characters as yet...they'll be in upcoming chapters once I get the Arrow crew situated. Hopefully no one seems too OOC in this, but I'm operating on them having different backgrounds as Arrow canon (TV or comic) doesn't really fit. Things are being adjusted to the new universe where possible. So here I am, crossing my fingers._

"Damn it, I'm getting tired of no one listening to me!"

Felicity Smoak slammed the door behind her as she stepped into her 'laboratory'. Not that it was an actual lab complete with equipment and lab assistants. No – she possessed a measly three room office/living space, a couple of computers, and two true believers. Okay, so it hadn't started as a living place, but the money for the computers had to come from somewhere and she didn't make enough on tech work to cover both an apartment and this place. Regardless – at least she had some space and help which was more than she could say for official attention.

"Let me guess – you've got another one wondering why you aren't on medication, right?" Roy Harper didn't even look in her direction. He just continued monitoring his laptop as he sat with his feet propped up on their card table.

Felicity opened her mouth to reply, but paused as the third of their trio stepped out of the adjoining room. Cindy "Sin" Taylor smacked Roy on the back of his head as she sauntered past him. "Leave Fliss alone," she ordered. "It's not her fault the world's full of short-sighted imbeciles."

"Okay, ow," he huffed at her even as Felicity smiled at their antics. Their loyalty and support always gave her the extra confidence she needed to continue forging ahead in her attempts to find someone, anyone who would listen to her.

"Seriously, Fliss," Sin continued as if Roy had never interrupted. "Sooner or later we'll find someone who'll listen. You managed to convince us after all."

"The two of you were a bit predisposed towards the idea," Felicity pointed out. "It's not like it took much to convince you. I currently have to deal with people who don't want to consider it."

"Like I said," Sin shrugged, "short-sighted imbeciles."

Felicity chuckled, her mood brightening as it always did with these two. "Who knew getting my purse snatched would be so rewarding?"

"Aw, c'mon, Fliss," Roy groaned. "How long do I have to apologize for that?" Both women laughed.

Both of them once ran the streets as street thieves, the epitome of kids lost by the system. Orphaned during kaiju attacks, they learned to survive on the thin line between the criminal underground and the daylight world. They shouldn't have been trustworthy, but both of them remembered their lives before the kaiju took their families – both of them remembered something more than survival. A lucky encounter shortly after the Breach was sealed gained Felicity two unexpected supporters.

"And that was an _attempted_ purse snatching, not a full grab." A new voice interrupted the merriment. Everyone looked around as their fourth and final member strolled into the room. Lyla Michaels nudged Felicity as she stepped up to one side. "I'm pretty sure I recall putting a stop to that particular attempt too."

The first person to believe in her, Lyla had come from a more official background than the rest of them. She spent the kaiju war fighting as a PPDC Strike Trooper. Troopers were the ground forces of the war and during an attack they would be on the streets to lay down ground fire and evacuate citizens. That meant they were both elite and rare. Very few people would actually have the courage to stand in the face of a kaiju attack without a Jaeger.

"You did," Felicity admitted. She took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh as her eyes traveled from one person to the next.

Lyla gave a supportive smile. "I guess you're going to call me predisposed as well?"

"Well," Felicity shrugged as she slouched against the desk, "I have to look at it from their point of view. Roy and Sin were both orphaned by kaijus and you were a trooper. I don't know exactly what kind of twisted logic comes up with that meaning you're prejudiced _towards _the Breach opening, but then again I'm a scientist, not a psychologist."

"Or a politician." Irritation laced through Roy's voice as he shifted the laptop to the table and brought his feet down with a solid thud. He leaned on the table as his bitter gaze scanned the women in front of him.

"Right," Felicity winced. She'd never been any good at playing politics to smooth paths or find support. It was her belief that truth should be able to open doors without having to play chess with favor.

He shook his head. "Not what I mean, Fliss," he frowned and then paused. "Or…yeah, okay, I can see where that plays in, but I wasn't talking about the games. I meant how some of them will hide the truth until they can use it or to keep their people from panicking or…shit. I don't know." He kicked at the table leg, causing the flimsy thing to wobble.

"Don't break it, genius," Sin poked him. "That's our dinner table."

Sorrow and guilt crept into Felicity's throat. What right did she have dragging these three along with her on this half-crazy pursuit? Lyla could be commanding a decent salary as someone's bodyguard or in security while the other two should be in school or working. None of them should be chasing shadows with her in this dingy little place.

"Stop." Everyone turned to Lyla, but her eyes remained trained on Felicity. "You stop right there, Liss. This isn't your fault."

Felicity shook her head. "I-."

"You're trying to do what's right," Lyla interrupted. She folded her arms over her chest. "You're trying to warn people, to get the word out. It's not your fault that no one is listening."

"Yes, but you guys-."

"Are here because we want to be here." Lyla's lips twisted a bit. "Is it easy? No. It's never easy to be one of the pathfinders – to forge ahead of everyone else. It sure as hell isn't easy to give others this kind of bad news, but you know what? It's right." She stepped forward and put her hands on Felicity's shoulders. "We're here because you're right and someone needs to get the message out. If that means we have to be painted as batty as the belfry in Sleepy Hollow, then so be it. Someone's got to do it – the people on the coasts deserve it." She paused and took a deep breath before finishing, "The memories of those lost in the first war deserve it."

Silence filled the room for a long moment before Roy heaved himself to his feet. He shoved his hands in his jacket's pockets and gave her a wry little smirk. "Trying to play the martyr there, boss lady?"

"Your charm play needs work," Sin grimaced at him. Planting her hands on her hips, she tilted her head and arched an eyebrow. "I'm sorry; did I just hear you were trying to take credit for all of us staying with you?"

"Ah, blame actually," Felicity pointed out.

Sin waved that off. "Blame, credit, yada yada – it boils down to you taking responsibility for us being here. Now you're cute and all, Fliss, but you're not really my type."

"Is anybody your type?" Roy laughed.

"Don't you just wish, big boy," she tossed back before turning once more to Felicity. "Anyway, as I was saying before mouthy there broke in, I'm not hanging around because you're cute. I'm sure as hell not working a boring minimum wage job because I find the company stimulating – even if it is. I'm here because I've seen your readings and the math and the explanation is the only one I've seen that makes sense to me." Something flared in her eyes. "I'm here because I don't want some other ten year old kid watching as a thirty-story tall monster destroys her home and kills her family."

Anger and pain flashed over Roy's face. "Ditto." He didn't elaborate further, turning his gaze away, but not before Felicity spotted the sheen of tears he tried to hide.

Felicity took a deep breath and opened her mouth. The phone rang and they all jumped. Everyone chuckled before Lyla reached over to answer. "Hello?" Her eyes narrowed. "And who is this?" They waited and she took the phone away from her ear, careful to put it on hold before speaking. Her gaze focused on Felicity. "Do we know Walter Steele?" Felicity felt her eyes go wide and Lyla's eyebrows went up. "I take it that's a 'yes, Lyla, I actually do know the CEO of Queen Consolidated and have neglected to mention this'?"

"Yes," Felicity nodded even as her brow furrowed. "He tried to get me to switch to technology full time when I was an undergrad. He was…" Her voice trailed off and she waved her hands for a moment trying to find the right words. "He was kind of a minor mentor? Not that his mentoring was subpar, just that he wasn't my major mentor…or in my major I should say."

"Uh, huh." Lyla's lips twitched. "So…you want to talk to him?"

"What? Oh!" Felicity reached out for the phone. "Yes, certainly, I do."

"Just a sec," Lyla fended her off and took the phone off hold. "Mr. Steele? I'm putting Ms. Smoak on now."

Felicity brought the phone up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Good afternoon, Miss Smoak." As Walter's calm voice came over the line, Felicity could feel some of the tension in her shoulders leak away. Even though their relationship remained a limited one, he had always had the ability to make her feel comfortable instead of awkward. He continued. "I trust you are doing well?"

"As well as can be expected," she replied. A voice in the back of her mind scoffed at her honest response, but she ignored it. She didn't like lying unless there was no other choice. "And you?"

"A bit concerned actually."

"Walter?" she prompted after a brief pause.

"I understand you've been trying to convince certain influential people about a theory you have developed in regards to the Breach." She winced, but remained quiet and he continued. "I've been told you are quite forceful about it – practically obsessed."

"I am not obsessed!" Felicity bit her lip after her outburst, although she dragged enough attention away from the call to scowl at her three friends. All of them currently seemed unable to remain upright due to the force of their laughter. She huffed out a breath. "I am not obsessed," she insisted. "I'm simply being adamant about their responsibility to review the data." Another frown crossed her face. "How did you find out?"

"The influential have their own weaknesses," he informed her. "Gossip is one of the strongest."

"Wonderful," she groused. "I'm being gossiped about in circles I don't travel in by people who may or may not have any clue as to who I am, what I do, or what my education level is. No wonder I keep getting doors slammed in my face. They probably all think I'm a complete fringe lunatic with only minor scientific credentials." Her expression twisted into a moue of distaste. "Or they think I'm some kind of conspiracy nut."

He waited, letting her finish. That was something else she'd always appreciated about him – he never made her feel like she was wasting his time. "Miss Smoak…Felicity, may I ask why you didn't call me?"

"You?" she repeated. Her head tilted in perplexed bewilderment.

"I am not without connections and resources," he reminded her.

"Yes?" she agreed, a note of uncertainty still hovering in her voice.

A sound came over the phone, half-chuckle and half-sigh. "It never occurred to you, did it?"

"Not really? I'm sorry, but…well…for one thing I mostly have you in my head as someone involved in business," she told him, "not exactly someone you call for a scientific issue." Felicity blinked as all three of her companions reacted in their own ways to her comment. Roy collapsed back into his chair, shoulders shaking in silent laughter, while Sin shook her head in fond exasperation. Lyla clasped a hand over her eyes with a mock groan even as her lips began twitching once more.

"We really must work on your understanding of how money, power, business, and science interact, Miss Smoak." Walter informed her, sliding past his moment of overt familiarity. "The drive for pure science is a worthy if somewhat unrealistic goal-."

"That's not what I'm after!" she exclaimed. Her mouth snapped shut as she realized she'd just interrupted him by almost shouting at him.

"I am aware of the humanitarian side of your efforts," he continued after a moment. She went to apologize, but he kept speaking. "Miss Smoak, as someone familiar with your qualifications and your own personal sense of morality, I believe I may be able to help you."

"Why?" Felicity demanded. "I hate to sound blunt when you're offering to help, but quite frankly the sheer suddenness of your approach is suspicious."

"I have a personal reason for wanting to help you gather the resources you need in order to prove or disprove your theory," he answered her. "Beyond the mere human desire to prevent the kaiju from returning."

"Personal?" Her voice grew a bit softer. "How personal?" She couldn't fault him for it – after all, hadn't she just finished reiterating the personal reasons for her three companions?

"My step-son will want to know."

"Your…" Her voice trailed away. She could almost feel the light bulb go off over her head. Walter Steele, CEO of Queen Consolidated, was married to Moira Queen. That meant his step-son… "Oh my God," she breathed out, her voice whisper-soft. "Your step-son is-." She broke off, unable to vocalize the name as some of her old notes swam into her mind's eye. He took up where she fell silent.

"Oliver Queen."


	3. An Important Meeting

_Author's Note – Okay, I know basically nothing about science. This is pretty much cobbled together from half remembered things in high school plus some odds and ends found via Google & Bing. Mea culpa if it's a disaster._

Felicity paced the small room, her hands clenching and unclenching as she walked. Her ponytail whipped with each turn until Sin couldn't stand it any longer.

"Fliss!"

Felicity came to an abrupt stop and her gaze flashed over to meet Sin's dark eyes. "What?"

"Stop, okay?" the younger woman added, a hint of pleading in her face. "You need to breathe, to relax, and…you're making me nauseous."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sin," Felicity's mouth curved down. "I don't mean to be so…so…"

"Frantic," Layla put in from her perch on the table.

"Exactly," Felicity nodded. "If we can't convince these guys of the potential, then we're going to lose our last, probably best shot at making people understand the danger." She began to wring her hands. "We can't…we just can't mess this up and that's a lot of pressure to…get it right." Her lips twisted in an unhappy moue. "And I haven't gotten it right yet."

"Bullshit."

The three women turned to look at Roy. He leaned against the back wall, scowl steady on his face and arms crossed tightly over his chest. Every inch of him screamed 'closed off' and 'pissed off'.

"Roy," Felicity started.

"No!" He interrupted. "You're not the one to blame when a bunch of lazy ass bureaucrats and scared politicians refuse to see the truth. If it were just them, I'd tell you to quit – let them hide their heads in the sand and deal when it all goes to hell. But it's not just them…and the people on the coast don't deserve to suffer because some bigwig idiots couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag."

The sound of someone clearing a throat drew their attention to the door. Three men stood just inside, each of them eyeing the group. Felicity smiled at the reassuring presence of Walter Steele, so solid and businesslike in his suit. Her eyes moved to the man standing beside him and she could feel her stomach begin to flutter and twist as she met an intense gaze. Oliver Queen, former Jaeger pilot and heir to the Queen fortune, stared back at her. An uneasy spark ran down her spine as that fixed stare seemed to penetrate into her as though he could see the truth in one simple glance. She held his eyes, refusing to look away. Distrust colored them, but as they continued their stare off, she saw the dark look faltering. First surprise and then a reluctant admiration lightened it. With that lifting of the shadow came a mingled expression of interest, fear, and a touch of acceptance. She wasn't quite sure what that meant, but she got the feeling she had passed some kind of test when he blinked and looked away.

Her eyes managed to pull themselves away from the former pilot to take in their third and final guest. He wasn't someone she recognized, but the locked gaze between him and Lyla seemed to imply that her friend did. Curiosity shot through Felicity and she turned a questioning look on her friend. A cool, remote expression settled on Lyla's face, making it a blank mask. "John Diggle," Lyla noted.

"Lyla Michaels." Regret flickered in his face, but he said nothing more.

Felicity's eyes narrowed, but Walter stepped forward before she could speak. "Miss Smoak," he greeted her, warmth threading through his voice.

"Mr. Steele," she smiled, moving forward to take his hand. "It's good to see you again."

"You as well," he nodded. "Let me introduce you to my companions. My step-son, Oliver Queen." The former Ranger stepped up and shook her hand. Then Walter gestured towards the man still locked in a contest of wills with Lyla. "This is John Diggle, part of our security team. He generally goes by Diggle." She received a simple nod from the silent man. Walter's expression grew concerned, but he turned back to her. "Thank you for having us."

"Thank you for coming," she replied, a grateful smile crossing her face. One hand gestured to her group. "I'd like you to meet Cindy Taylor, better known as Sin, Roy Harper, and Lyla Michaels." Felicity spared one more apprehensive glance for Lyla's silent figure before facing Walter once more. "This is my team."

"Your team for what exactly?" Oliver entered the conversation for the first time.

She turned and met his eyes once more. Again a fluttering sensation ran through her, but she pushed it aside. Her shoulders straightened and her chin rose. "My team of true believers," she replied, the wry humor in her voice layered with a hint of warning. The slight movement of an eyebrow in his otherwise stoic expression told her he picked up on it. She shifted her attention back to Walter, feeling more comfortable with him. "They're the ones helping me as I gather information, readings, etc."

He gave a grave nod. "Tell us about your theory, Miss Smoak, please."

"Right." Felicity drew in a breath. Her fingers trembled, but she forced them still and told herself to settle. She leaned back against the desk. "If any one you would like to sit down, please feel free," she offered, waving a hand towards the handful of chairs. Walter accepted her offer, as did Oliver. Diggle remained standing near the door. Lyla moved to the front of the room taking a stand behind Felicity. She fell into parade rest, her stance a silent defense of the blonde scientist. Roy didn't move from his spot on the back wall, but Sin to perch on the desk closest to him.

"Let me set this up," Felicity began. Her gaze shifted from one to the other. Diggle's face seemed remote while Walter looked on with polite attention. Oliver's face remained impassive, but something moved in his eyes, almost a desperate need to **not **believe. He was the one she had to convince. If she could get him to accept the possibility, he would be the one who could convince others to listen. Walter might be able to persuade some of the movers and shakers, get the money needed to do anything required, but it would be Oliver who would convince the remnants of the PPDC of the necessity of returning to a war footing.

"When I started college, I chose to study the Breach," she began, deciding it would be better to build up the whole explanation. "I continued even after it was sealed…despite some people's efforts to convince me to change."

"Including mine," Walter reminisced with a hint of humor.

Felicity nodded, an affectionate smile curving her lips. "Including yours."

"I tried to convince her to switch into information technology," he explained when Oliver glanced at him. "If I could have done that, I had every intention of headhunting her for Queen Consolidated."

Roy gave a soft snort. "Felicity Smoak in a cubicle," he muttered, shaking his head. "Can't see it." Sin hissed at him and he shrugged, falling silent, but the smirk continued to hover around his mouth.

"Anyway," Felicity continued, "unlike others who fell away, I continued in my studies. The potential of that kind of energy…it seemed a crime to waste everything we'd learned." Now she moistened her lips. "Although sealed, sensors would pick up faint energy readings from the area of the Breach deep within the Mariana Trench from time to time. These readings matched the low level energy readings recorded during the time when the Breach was active. Thanks to my additional studies in seismology and volcanology, I discovered an interesting pattern. The energy readings from the Trench would occur within thirty-six to forty-eight hours after a seismic event in the Pacific. I've gone back through any and all readings I can lay my hands on covering the time since the sealing. Everything was quiet for about eighteen months or so after that time – no odd readings at all after various earthquakes."

"Earthquakes? Plural?" Diggle spoke for the first time. "How many are we talking about?'

"Well, oddly enough, there are really no actual quakes in the Trench itself. There are various theories for that, but that's a topic for another time. However, the Trench is in the Mariana Arc, part of the circum-Pacific seismic belt which is connected to the better known 'Ring of Fire'."

"The volcanoes that encircle the Pacific," Oliver noted.

"Exactly," Felicity agreed, glad she seemed to be keeping their attention. "The Pacific…circle, let's call it, is easily the most seismic part of the world in terms of both earthquakes and volcanoes. Now, the National Earthquake Information Center estimates that millions of quakes happen each year, but because they are too remote or too small, most of them go undetected. There are an estimated five hundred thousand detectable earthquakes each year, one fifth of which can be felt by humans. The greatest majority of these are minor, causing no discernable damaged." Diggle started to say something, but fell silent when Felicity raised her hand. "I say 'discernable' because I'm referring to damage as decided by the various governments as well as insurance companies. This doesn't mean they don't factor into our study here just that they don't really register with anyone other than scientists." One shoulder lifted in a shrug. "There are around one thousand earthquakes each year that cause discernable damage."

"While one thousand sounds like a large number, that is still a worldwide figure, is it not?" Walter asked.

"Correct," she nodded.

The men shifted, frowns beginning to gather, but Roy pushed away from the wall. "Hey!" he snapped out as he glared at them. "Let her finish before you get patronizing."

"Roy."

Felicity's quiet voice stopped him and he slouched back. "Yeah, yeah." Sin patted his arm, aiming a shrug at Felicity.

The scientist sighed, but soldiered on. "Eighty percent of all seismic activity occurs in the Pacific," she continued. "That's an average of eight hundred events each year that cause some visible damage and up to eighty thousand a year that can be felt by humans even if there is no perceptible damage. That's between two and almost twenty-two hundred earthquakes per day somewhere around the Pacific. This doesn't include the statistics on volcanic activity." She shook her head. "Needless to say, there is a lot of movement happening in locations that are geologically connected to the Mariana Trench."

Olivier leaned forward. "And you've noted energy readings?"

"Yes," she nodded. "We've focused on earthquakes measuring at least a three on the Richter scale. From around July 2036, energy readings bearing remarkably similar readings to the Breach energy signature have begun to appear in a significant number of seismic events in the Pacific."

"But not all of them?" Diggle interjected.

"No," she agreed. "To be honest, we wouldn't expect it to. I mean a minor event in San Francisco won't wake people up in Los Angeles, so why should it affect the Trench? However, if you draw a line from Sapporo, Japan down to Papua New Guinea, you not only pass just west of the Trench, but you pass through or come close to five of the Earth's tectonic plates – the Pacific, North American, Eurasian, Filipino, and Australian plates. Any moderate or major event along or near that line has the potential to be felt at the Trench."

"What about the energy readings?" Oliver's voice held a hint of forced patience.

Felicity lifted her eyebrows at him as she felt Lyla shifting behind her. "The Breach possessed a unique energy signature," she replied, her focus sharp on him this time. Their gazes locked. "Due to its very nature, being a link to the Anteverse, it is not going to be confused with any energy signature common to Earth." Her chin tilted up. "And yes, we've detected that energy signature after every major event on the circle as well as moderate ones near the Trench itself."

"Okay," he nodded in acceptance, "but why hasn't anyone else noticed this?"

"They have," Sin huffed out. "They just don't talk to each other."

"What do you mean, Miss Taylor?" Walter asked, turning around to look at the young woman.

"Just call me Sin," she told him, "and I meant just what I said. They guys studying earthquakes and volcanoes don't talk to the people picking up the energy readings. Since they require different machines, they don't notice it themselves. The shell of the PPDC picks up the energy, but most of the quakes don't make the news as anything more than a sound bite."

"Military doesn't talk to the scientists, scientists don't talk to the military, nobody talks to the politicians," Roy scoffed as he moved to prop his hip against the desk next to Sin's perch.

"Makes sharing information a real pain in the ass," Lyla added.

"What explanation is the PPDC offering? They must have something," Oliver pointed out.

"Remnants," Felicity sighed. "They claim it's just the remaining vestiges of the energy that spilled over prior to the Breach being sealed."

"And why doesn't that-."

"Because that's not how energy works!"

Felicity wasn't sure who was more surprised by her vehement interruption of Oliver's question – him or her. Silence descended on the room as Oliver looked at her, eyebrows rising towards his hairline. She could feel a flush rising up her cheeks, but she forced herself not to look away. Instead she took that adrenaline burst and intensified her conviction. "Energy has three options – it's used, it's stored, or it dissipates. It doesn't just hang around the bottom of the ocean waiting to flare up on a whim." Both hands came up in an exasperated gesture. "There is nothing in the Trench to act like a battery! The energy would have just gone away – it would weaken over time and vanish. It would not be non-existent for eighteen months and then start flaring up out of nothingness only to vanish for another chunk of time!"

Oliver stared at her for a long moment before he sat back; chin ducking down to his chest as he closed his eyes in apparent thought. She glanced over at Walter and Diggle, but brought her eyes back to Oliver. After several minutes of silence, Felicity added one more sentence in a quiet voice.

"And the energy is getting stronger."

His eyes popped open and focused on her with a burning intensity. Walter straightened in his seat. "Getting **stronger**, Miss Smoak?"

"At each event," she nodded, voice almost a whisper. "Sometimes the increases are infinitesimal, but each flare gets a little stronger each time."

Felicity looked down at her hands as the silence spread once more. Now what? If they didn't believe her, she didn't know what she was going to do. They were her best chance to get the truth out. Movement drew her attention and she glanced up. Oliver moved to stand in front of her. "You've got documentation for all of this?" Although phrased as a question, there was no query in his voice – only a resigned acceptance.

"And more," she affirmed.

He gave a single nod. "Then I guess it's time we take the next step."

Her brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I have to make a call." One corner of his mouth pulled upward. "To Raleigh Becket."


End file.
